ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that current Indian grand strategic thinking encompasses three realisms – hard, liberal, and prudential. While there are overlaps between them in terms of the nature of threats and the means of managing those threats, they do differ, at base: they are largely agreed on the ranking of threats but differ in terms of preferred responses. Hard realists insist on internal and external balancing; Liberal realists favour mobilizing the norms, institutions, and practices of international society against India’s rivals; and prudential realists argue that a ‘hide and bide’ posture is best in dealing with more powerful adversaries.
